What emerged was a book that is as much about how memory works as it is about what Bill remembered. The story centres on his formative years in El Centro, California — a desert town changed by the war — and is told through the lens of the keepsakes and artefacts Bill spent a lifetime collecting. A Wendell Willkie campaign button. A license plate topper from a 1940s gas station. Soda fountain decals and wartime slogans. These objects weren’t just nostalgic; they were keys to a wider world and sparks for Bill’s “discovery moments.”

To reflect that spirit visually, we worked with the family to photograph Bill’s collections and document the distinctive style of the Tyler home. Our design team built a palette directly from those photos — a period-perfect mix of raspberry red and celery green — and used a vintage floral wallpaper from their home as a base for graphic elements throughout.

We chose a heavier, cream-toned stock instead of bright white to amplify the vintage feel, and built layouts that alternated Bill’s stories with full-bleed object photography. The result is a memoir that never lingers on the past but feels as alive as Bill’s passion for it.